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Lowery wins county bee in ninth round

By Catherine Faimon on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 12:51

CARBONDALE — In her second appearance at a county spelling bee, Aurora Lowery, an eighth-grade student at Osage City Middle School, won the 2017 Osage County Spelling Bee Friday, Feb. 3, at Santa Fe Trail High School. The bee was hosted by Carbondale Attendance Center. Being named the top speller earns Aurora a trip to the Topeka Capital-Journal Annual Regional Spelling Bee later this month at Seaman High School, Topeka. She earned a trip to the county bee after placing first at her local bee in January.

Runner-up at the bee was Ariana Delaney, a sixth-grade student at Carbondale Attendance Center. Ariana also placed first at her local spelling bee and has also participated in at least one county bee before this.

Two Burlingame students, Kaden Cannon and Mason Flickinger, had originally earned spots to participate at the county bee, but were both ill the day of the bee. Araydia Preston, a seventh-grader, was chosen as an alternate.

By the end of the fourth round, only three participants remained, Aurora, Ariana and Colby Vogeler. Each spelled their word correctly in round five, with “contraband,” “hypothesis,” and “ambulance,” respectively. In round six, Colby stumbled on “seersucker,” while Aurora and Ariana correctly spelled “threshold” and “hassock,” respectively.

Both correctly spelled their words in the next round, “loam” and “haversack.” In round eight, Ariana tripped up on “Newton,” and Aurora had to correctly spell “hurricane” to be given the championship word, which she did. The bee ended soon after, as Aurora correctly spelled “protein.”

Greta Hug, organizer and pronouncer, welcomed parents and students to the event, introduced the judge, Allison Folger, and led the participants in a practice round before the bee officially began.

Aurora and Ariana were awarded plaques, and all other competitors were presented an inscribed medal, provided by The Osage County Herald-Chronicle.